The Whydah Gally (variously written as "Whidah" or "Whidaw"^[1]) was the flagship of the pirate "Black Sam" Bellamy. The ship sank in a storm off Cape Cod on April 26, 1717, taking Bellamy and the majority of his crew with it. A flagship is the ship used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships. ... Look up pirate and piracy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Samuel Bellamy (c. ... Cape Cod (or simply the Cape) is an arm-shaped peninsula nearly coextensive with Barnstable County, Massachusetts and forming the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States. ... April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (117th in leap years). ... // Events January 4 — The Netherlands, Britain & France sign Triple Alliance February 26-March 6 What is now the northeastern United States was paralyzed by a series of blizzards that buried the region. ...

The Whydah was first launched in 1715 from London, England. A three-masted ship of galley-style design, it measured 31 meters in length and weighed 300 tons. It was christened Whydah after the West African trading post of Ouidah (pronounced WIH-dah), and was configured as a heavily-armed trading and transport ship for use in the Atlantic slave trade, carrying goods from England to exchange for slaves in West Africa. It would then travel to the Caribbean to trade the slaves for precious metals and medicinal ingredients, which would then be transported back to England. // Events July 24 - Spanish treasure fleet of ten ships under admiral Ubilla leave Havana, Cuba for Spain. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... A mast is a pole which holds a sail of a boat, see mast (sailing). ... A French galley and Dutch men-of-war off a port by Abraham Willaerts, painted 17th century. ... The metre, or meter (symbol: m) is the SI base unit of length. ... Look up ton in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... Ouidah is a city on the Atlantic coast of Benin. ... The Atlantic slave trade, started by the Portuguese[1], but soon dominated by the English, was the sale and exploitation of African slaves by Europeans that occurred in and around the Atlantic Ocean from the 15th century to the 19th century. ...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... West Indian redirects here. ... A precious metal is a rare metallic element of high, durable economic value. ...

In February of 1717, the Whydah was attacked by pirates led by "Black Sam" Bellamy, who captured the ship and its cargo. At this time, Bellamy was in possession of two smaller vessels, the Sultana and the Mary Anne (or Marianne), and decided to take the Whydah as his new flagship. The Whydah's captain, Lawrence Prince, was given the Sultana by Bellamy, who sailed on to the Carolinas and headed north along the eastern coastline of the American colonies, heading for Maine. // Events January 4 — The Netherlands, Britain & France sign Triple Alliance February 26-March 6 What is now the northeastern United States was paralyzed by a series of blizzards that buried the region. ... Look up pirate and piracy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Samuel Bellamy (c. ... Official language(s) None (English de facto; French is also an administrative language) Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area  Ranked 39th  - Total 33,414 sq mi (86,542 km²)  - Width 210 miles (338 km)  - Length 320 miles (515 km)  - % water 13. ...

Accounts differ as to the destination of the Whydah during its last weeks. Some legends recount that Bellamy wanted to visit his mistress, Maria Hallett, who lived near the tip of Cape Cod, while others blame the Whydah's route on navigator error. In any case, the Whydah diverted its route to Cape Cod and, on April 26, 1717, sailed into a violent storm. The ship was driven ashore at Wellfleet, Massachusetts and quickly broke apart. One of the few surviving members of Bellamy's crew, one Thomas Davis, testified in his subsequent trial that "In a quarter of an hour after the ship struck, the Mainmast was carried by the board, and in the Morning she was beat to pieces." Cape Cod (or simply the Cape) is an arm-shaped peninsula nearly coextensive with Barnstable County, Massachusetts and forming the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States. ... April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (117th in leap years). ... // Events January 4 — The Netherlands, Britain & France sign Triple Alliance February 26-March 6 What is now the northeastern United States was paralyzed by a series of blizzards that buried the region. ... Settled: 1724 â€“ Incorporated: 1775 Zip Code(s): 02667 â€“ Area Code(s): 508 / 774 Official website: http://www. ...

By morning, hundreds of pirate corpses were washed up on the shoreline, and hundreds of Cape Cod's notorious wreckers (locally known as "moondoggers") were already plundering the remains. Hearing of the shipwreck, then-governor Samuel Shute dispatched Cyprian Southack, a local salvager and cartographer, to recover "Money, Bullion, Treasure, Goods and Merchandizes taken out of the said Ship." By May 3, when Southack reached the location of the wreck, he found that the ship's remains were scattered along more than four miles of shoreline. Wrecking is the practice of taking valuables from a ship which has foundered near or close to shore. ... Samuel Shute (January 12, 1662 - April 15, 1742) was born in London. ... May 3 is the 123rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (124th in leap years). ...

According to surviving members of the crew, at the time of its sinking, the ship carried nearly four and a half tons of silver, gold, gold dust, and jewelry, which had been divided equally among the 180-man crew and stored in chests below the ship's deck. Though Southack did recover some of the items salvaged from the ship, little of this massive treasure hoard was recovered until the wreck's rediscovery nearly two hundred years later. Look up ton in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Only nine members of Bellamy's crew survived (two from the Whydah and seven from accompanying ships in his fleet), of which six were tried as pirates and hanged in Boston.^[2] The remaining two, represented at trial by Cotton Mather, were acquitted of their charges, and the last, an Indian, was sold into slavery. Those who died in the shipwreck included Bellamy himself, as well as a nine-year-old boy, John King, who had joined the crew (on his own impetus) in November of the previous year, when Bellamy captured the ship on which he and his mother were passengers. Hanging is the suspension of a person by a ligature, usually a cord wrapped around the neck, causing death. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ... In legal parlance, a trial is an event in which parties to a dispute present information (in the form of evidence) in a formal setting, usually a court, before a judge, jury, or other designated finder of fact, in order to achieve a resolution to their dispute. ... Cotton Mather (February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728). ... John King (c. ...

The wreck of the Whydah was rediscovered in 1984 by treasure hunter Barry Clifford (relying heavily on the 1717 map that Southack drew of the wreck's location) and has been the site of extensive underwater archaeology. More than 100,000 individual pieces have since been retrieved, including the ship's bell whose inscription "THE WHYDAH GALLY 1716" positively identified the wreck. It is one of only two confirmed pirate ships to be salvaged in modern times (the other being Blackbeard's flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge). 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Barry Clifford is an underwater archaeological explorer best known for discovering the remains of the wrecked ship Whydah in 1984 after a 15 years long search. ... Underwater archaeology is the study of past human life, behaviours and cultures using the physical remains found in salt or fresh water or buried beneath water-logged sediment. ... A flag often attributed to Blackbeard. ... The Queen Annes Revenge is haunted, and was the name of the pirate Blackbeards infamous flagship. ...

In 2006 the possible choice of the Whydah to represent a museum exhibit on pirates caused a minor controversy. The Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, Florida was considering using history and relics from the ship for a display on the Golden Age of Piracy set to coincide with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End in 2007, but was criticized for using a ship with a history of participation in the slave trade while trivializing that aspect of its past. [1] For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) is a science museum in Tampa, Florida. ... Tampas skyline For alternate meanings, see Tampa (disambiguation) Tampa is a city located in Hillsborough County on the west coast of Florida. ... Official language(s) English Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Largest metro area Miami Area  Ranked 22nd  - Total 65,795[1] sq mi (170,304[1] km²)  - Width 361 miles (582 km)  - Length 447 miles (721 km)  - % water 17. ... A painting depicting the era. ...

On 27 May 2007 a documentary/reality show was broadcast on the UK terrestrial channel five, hosted by Vic Reeves, entitled 'Pirate Ship... Live!'. Pre-publicity for the show had claimed that "marine archaeologists will dive down and salvage (they hope) pirate booty live on air", failing to mention that the site had already been quite extensively archeologically investigated, and that a considerable haul of 'booty' had already been recovered. Unfortunately, five's live venture was a damp squib. By the end of the two-hour programme, viewers had been rewarded only with the hoisting of a roll of lead from the ship. Though the team of presenters put on a brave face ('What a tremendous day' etc), the show seemed only to prove that archaeology is a ponderous process that does not lend itself to bums-on-seats TV. 5 (five) is the natural number following 4 and preceding 6. ... James Jim Roderick Moir, more commonly known by the pseudonym Vic Reeves, (born January 24, 1959) is an English comedian, best known through his double act with Bob Mortimer (see Vic and Bob). ...

Sources

1. ^ Strong, Ezra (1836). The Lives and Bloody Exploits of the Most Noted Pirates, Their Trials and Executions, Including Correct Accounts of the Late Piracies, Committed in the West Indias, and the Expedition of Commodore Porter. Courier Dover Publications, 298. “...Bellamy was declared captain, and the vessel had her old name continued, which was Whidaw... (p.127)” 
2. ^ Dow, George Francis (1988). Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Courier Dover Publications, 221. ISBN 0486255654. 

• National Geographic page on the Whydah Gally
• Bob Cembrola, "The Whydah is for Real: An Archeological Assessment"
• Kenneth J. Kinkor, "The Legend of Black Sam and the Good Ship Whydah"

External links

• Official site of Expedition Whydah